album notes

“This album is a little bit of a voyage into the unknown,” is how Paul described 2001's Driving Rain. “It started with a guy in my New York office saying ‘Who is going to produce your next album? Can I give you some suggestions?’ He sent me a list of possible producers. They were all very good, high-level people, and out of all of them David Kahne was the one I liked best. I liked his approach, he’s very musical, but modern. I met him, liked him: he’s very quiet and very on the ball and in talking it became clear that what he wanted to do and I what I wanted to do were very similar.” Once again, the album represents a burst of creativity, with many of the songs cut in just two weeks. The closing, hidden track, ‘Freedom’, was written as a response to the devastating events of September 11th, a world-changing moment that Paul witnessed from inside a plane on a New York runway. The album had already gone to print, but Paul insisted that it make it onto the album and organised a benefit concert in New York to raise funds for the city. Of the other songs, three were written in India, ‘Your Loving Flame’ was written on the 36th floor of the Carlyle Hotel in New York, and ‘Driving Rain’ was inspired by a torrential downpour and a drive up to Malibu. “People say ‘How do you get your creativity?’ and I think the answer is you just have to be open to stuff.”